U.C. Berkeley is renovating its football stadium in 2011, and the Golden Bears need a place to squat for a year. They could go to the Oakland Coliseum, which happens to be nearby and happens to host football already, or they could go to Candlestick Park which, while farther away, has a full-time football configuration these days.

Of the three venues, AT&T Park has by far
the smallest football capacity (45,000). Candlestick holds 69,732, while
the Coliseum can accommodate 63,132. But athletic director Sandy Barbour said all of
the advantages that AT&T Park provides outweigh the potential for
smallercrowds, especially because the move is for only
one season.

They lay the reasons all out, but they all seem to be euphemisms for “it’s just so much more fashionable to be in San Francisco than in the East Bay!”

Here’s hoping for a World Series with yardlines going across the outfield. We haven’t had one of those for a while.

The Reds announced on Wednesday that the club and pitcher Raisel Iglesias agreed to a three-year contract. Iglesias had been on a seven-year, $27 million contract signed in June 2014 and had two years with $10 million remaining. According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the new contract is worth $24.125 million, so it’s a hefty pay raise for Iglesias.

Iglesias, who turns 29 years old in January, has gotten better every season pitching out of the Reds’ bullpen. In 2018, he posted a 2.38 ERA with 30 saves and an 80/25 K/BB ratio in 72 innings. Over his four-year career, the right-hander has 64 saves with a 2.97 ERA and a 359/106 K/BB ratio in 321 2/3 innings.

Iglesias gets little fanfare pitching for the Reds, fifth-place finishers in each of his four years, but he is certainly among baseball’s better relievers. Signing him to a new three-year deal gives them some certainty at the back of the bullpen in the near future.

There was a bit of confusion regarding his previous contract, which allowed him to opt out and file for arbitration if eligible. Iglesias has three years and 154 days of service time, so his new contract essentially covers his arbitration-eligible years.